Fallen Tears
by Muted Trumpet
Summary: "I need someone to tell me that it won't be okay, that I've just lost someone that meant the world to me, I need someone to be honest and that's why I summoned Zuko because i know he will be honest with me no matter what." ZxK. Of how Katara lost and found her faith in love.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own AtLA**

* * *

Zuko

o0o0o0o

I received the letter exactly eight days ago. It was brief, written in a hand-writing so unlike hers. She was distraught, I can tell by the way her cursive strokes were that much more messy, the way she used the words 'I need you now', she'd refused to tell what had happened, she didn't want me to worry, or so I am assuming. Katara was never the kind of person who would keep secrets unless the secret would hurt someone she loves.

I sigh softly as I sit at my desk trying to keep as calm as possible. Something terrible must have happened to her, if not, why did she want to see me so urgently? Why didn't she just state her business in the letter? I don't know because I don't want to know, because I don't want to feel her pain. It's selfish of me really but I cannot bring myself to care. I've been hurt by this woman too many times than I would bother to count.

There is a knock on the door and I move out of my seat to answer it. The letter lays on my desk and I don't know why but I am reluctant to show it to anyone.

"Sir, the ship will be docking in a half's hour", it is Admiral Jee, the man who worked with me during my time hunting the avatar. He's come to inform me of this personally and I know just why. He is concerned and although he would never admit it, I can see it in his grave features. He is deeply perplexed by me being cooped up in the ship's office and refusing to exit. A leader who doesn't lead is not a leader at all. And that is why he is worried, because I am not exercising my position as the Admiral that I have become over the years.

I nod my head at the older man who has always proven his honor in all situations despite the gravity, whom was able to stand up against a prince who was neglecting his men's safety and for that I admire this man deeply.

"Is there anything else my lord?" he asks with concern engraved on his face and I shake my head dismissing him and his worries. He walks away and allows me back into the office which doors I close tightly because I not only need the privacy but crave it. The missive lays limply on my office table and I read it again.

_To Zuko:_

_I need you now._

_Katara_

I laugh mentally, the lengths I'd go through for Katara. Four words, four and I am here, half way around the earth looking for the woman who once hated me. There are times I cannot understand myself, there are times I look at myself in the mirror and shake my head, the stupidity, the desperation, the little boy who was so broken in spirit, trying to claw his way to peace. I am still that little child, still vulnerable, still afraid.

I stand and tour my little office. It isn't anything fancy and that is when I catch a glimpse of it. The necklace reflects the sunlight which streams through the window and glistens. Slowly, reluctantly, excitedly, painfully I reach for it, touch it, feel it and caress its stone and then almost as if I've been burnt, I pull my hand back and stare at it with murderous eyes. It's old, a decade old to be exact and it exudes a certain coldness to it, through it i lost my heart and my faith in true love. I carved it here, in this very cabin, on the same route to the South Pole.

One may wonder why I chose to rush through the process, and I can tell you that I did. It was because I had only just woken up one day and decided that I was going to change my life forever and that's what I did, I'd rushed into the first ship setting off, and fashioned the necklace during my journey. I didn't give myself the opportunity to think because I didn't have to that was what I wanted for myself and until this day I am sure of it.

There is another knock on the door and I beckon the person to enter. Admiral Jee pokes his head into the cabin and looks at me and I immediately regret not meeting him at the door because as soon as he sees it, his gaze lowers and pity oozes from his eyes as he stares at the necklace in my hands.

"We have docked Sir, is there anything I can get you?" his question does nothing to console me and I shake my head and smile at him reassuringly he nods and head out of the cabin. I look outside the window and see the Water Tribe men in their canoes and that is when I decide that I've finally reached home.

* * *

"_Katara this isn't funny! Zuko yells at his friend as she laughs and run around his frozen form. Damn water benders and their crazy antics. Zuko tries to wriggle himself out of his icy cold predicament in vain and almost breathes fire when she continuously runs around him, teasing him for what he is unable to do. He hates her, he is sure of it because his legs are freezing and his arms are stuck and he doesn't know what to say but he hates her._

"_I don't know about that Zuko, I rather like you frozen! Hm, maybe I should freeze that mouth of yours too eh?" Zuko exhales fire and she backs away slightly. "Oooohhhh, feisty", she teases and continues to embarrass her old friend. Zuko is honestly regretting taking her to Ember Island. This was not his idea of a beach vacation but she obviously doesn't care about how he feels since she is still running around his half-naked, frozen form. _

"_I hate you!" he shouts but that just seems to fuel her laughter even more and he despises it. _

"_Oh come on be fun!" she pouts slightly and his eyes go murderous. She laughs even more at this and he cries out. What was wrong with her? Mai was about her age and she was so calm and collected, Ty Lee was crazy but nothing like Katara, Toph was normal and so what on earth was wrong with this crazy waterbender? I must be the full moon he concludes as he looks up at Yue. _

"_Are you crazy? Let me out!" he shouts at her and wriggles some more, she is even more tickled and laughs yet again._

"_Oh Zuko darling, you love me, I'm your best friend!" she yells in her highest pitch voice and he laughs drily._

"_Oh really? Well, I hadn't realized!"_

_All Katara does is freeze his mouth in position and then laughs again._

* * *

Katara

o0o0o0o

I stand in silence. The silence is stifling, I feel like yelling, throwing a tantrum, shouting, screaming, being a child again but that cannot happen. I glance down and look at my daughter. She looks back up at me, her eyes glistening with innocence as he holds my hand and stuffs her left thumb into her mouth. How can I behave like a child when I have a child myself? The question burns into my mind and I decide that I cannot be. I have to be strong for my daughter and for myself. There is nothing more important than this precious soul.

I shake my head and try to blink away the tears that have been threatening to fall for the past eight days. Aang meant everything to me, he was my husband, my lover, the father of my daughter, he was everything that one could ask for, he was my rock. And now he's gone. I bite my lower lip and almost draw out blood. This is better, I decide. This is much better than feeling numb.

When I was a child, I cut myself while helping my mother prepare dinner. The tip of my finger came right off and I stared at it, like I was looking at a constellation of stars. And I watched it, watched the blood ooze from the wound and stain the ice table we were working on. The blood kept coming but I didn't seem to feel anything. That's how I feel now. I am numb. Aang is dead and so am I and I cannot feel anything. All I am now is that little girl who is has just had the tip of her finger sliced off and who doesn't do anything about it, cannot do anything about it.

I remember after she saw it, my mother rushed me to the healing tent where my Gran Gran sewed it back on. The other children marveled at the fact that I didn't yell when the sewing began but I knew better, I was just numb. I wasn't brave like how the village women put me out to be. I didn't feel anything and it took my mother to make me realize just what had actually happened to me.

That was why I wrote to Zuko. I needed him, I needed him to tell me that everything wasn't going to be okay, I needed somebody to remind how much pain I was going through, I needed someone like Zuko, someone who would be honest with me no matter what.

There is slight wetness on my cheek. At first I think it was a snowflake that melted on my skin but upon closer inspection it isn't a snowflake, it is a tear drop. Have I been crying? I immediately bore my sleeve into my eye. The force is greater than necessary but I don't really care. Pain is what I welcome now, I need it.

I am curious however, why I am not feeling anything. And that is when I decide that I cannot feel pain because I cannot afford to feel it. If I were to allow myself the pleasure of feeling pain, I would die from it because this world is so cruel and so full of sorrow that I cannot allow myself to contract it.

My daughter tugs at my arm and I look down at her. She is pointing at Aang's corpse and rushes to him screaming "I want Daddy! I want Daddy!" and instead of breaking down at this point and allowing my tears to fall freely from my eyes, I bite them back and stifle the cry that so desperately wants to come because I cannot acknowledge the pain, I cannot allow myself to feel it because if I did, there wouldn't be any more reason for me to live. And so wordlessly and tearlessly, I pick my child up from where she is screaming and hold her in my arms. She is all that remains of her father and I am not about to let that go.

There is a knock on the door and I turn around and look at the man standing there. He is tall, well-built, has short hair and is wearing clothes that are all too familiar to me. He steps into the room and that is when I allow my bravado to disappear. I collapse into his arms and wail like there isn't a tomorrow. I allow myself to beat at his chest and cry out like a child and he doesn't judge me, he will never judge me because he loves me all too much. I remember his face when he presented me with the betrothal necklace he had carved. I remember the dry laugh and tears that came simultaneously as he stared at me as if that were the last time he would see me and the way he turned away after he had enough pain to last him a lifetime.

And then he was at my wedding and then he was gone and I never saw him again, not until now. He looks at me and stares, his face rigid as he allows his tears to fall also. After all, Aang was as much my husband as he was Zuko's brother. And then we are on the ice floor weeping for a man who's life was recently lost.

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**A/N: Please review! I don't really know where this story is going so please help me out with that by giving me some feedback hopefully this will get me at least 25 reviews? Please? **


	2. Chapter 2

Zuko

o0o0o

It's funny how you always seem to sense the presence of someone you love when they are near. I close my eyes as I feel Katara. Her presence is warm, welcomed, something which I've been yearning for the past ten years, something I love and I marvel at the fact that I managed to live the past decade without it. She is in the black tent, something that comes across to me as strange. For no particular reason but one, the black tent is reserved for the dead and the families of the deceased.

I nod at the man who has given me this information. His eyes are too severe for his youth; I notice this as I look into his hollow eyes, his eyes tell a story, of love, respect and anger for what has happened to him. Maybe I was imagining things, maybe I was thinking too much. I shake my head to clear away the thought and nod again as he nods back and directs me into the tent. The young man disappears before I can thank him and when I enter the tent I understand why.

He lies silently, stiffly even as I stare at him.

The pain that comes is nothing I've ever experienced before. It is excruciating to say the least and I find my eyes wide as I look at him. Him… I don't say 'his body' because I still cannot come to terms with the fact that one of my best friends, the man with whom I shared a sacred bond has left me, broken and shattered, in a position that I cannot explain. I venture into the black tent, slowly, threading gently on the snow as my eyes, focus on him. I can feel the wetness on my cheek as I subconsciously brush the moisture from my face.

I swallow, my throat threatening to close as I walk the few steps it takes me to reach his side. I move, my hand hovering only mere inches over his face as I steel my nerves. Gently, softly, with a heart heavy with sorrow I allow my hand to make contact with his cold skin.

"_Maybe we could be friends?"_

My throat closes at the memory and I find myself choking on the sobs that have collected in my throat. Why did things have to end this way? I remember the last time I saw him. It was here, in the South Pole where we had our final conversation. The memory is fuzzy but he was deeply saddened, that much I remember.

We were talking about Katara, about the necklace that I held; the one I carved for the woman who was ready to be his wife. I remember the look in his eyes, the sorrow and damn it, the pity. Despite everything that I was doing, things that included me trying to convince Katara that I loved her more than he did, the way he looked at me was more withering than the suffering my father put me through.

He touched my shoulder, and told me that everything was going to work out, that I was going to find another woman whom I would love and who would love me back. All I can say now is that the bastard lied.

I hate myself for this, for still being in love with Katara, but I cannot help it. My eyes fix on her, on her form, on her eyes as they come into contact with mine. And then she is in my arms and we are crying, wailing actually as we hang on to each other and cry, cry for the man whom we loved more than ourselves.

* * *

"_I love you", his voice was soft and she wasn't sure she'd really heard what he has to say. She looks at him, her eyes questioning, he brows furrowing. She watches his expression as they set into a determined form._

"_Zuko… I…", she doesn't know what to say. Was she suppose deny him? Walk away? Call for Aang? Kiss him? She stays still as he holds her hand, as he pulls her body towards his own, kissing her gently, forcefully, desperately. She pulls away all too quickly. "I… I can't", his expression was less surprised than she had thought it would be. There is an emotion which stirs within her, was she sad? Happy? Angry? She isn't sure. _

_Her teeth worry her lower lip as she watches him draw the thing from his pocket. A light pink strap, a grey stone, a symbol of love. She closes her eyes. Spirits, it was a betrothal necklace. She watches him hold it out to her, beckoning her to take it, to hold it close, to wrap her arms around his neck. She does none of these, instead she holds his hands within her own smaller ones and pushes his fingers into his palm. His tears fall freely and she closes her eyes. She couldn't, she wouldn't look at him any longer. His pain was too much for even her water to heal. _

_Her eyes stare into his and his stare into hers and then there is a smile on his features as his lips tremble just that little bit and then he nods and turns around and she cries for him, her tears falling freely down her face as she pities him, something she knows he never would want and then her fiancé's firebending instructor stalks away and she shakes her head and lowers her gaze. _

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Zuko

o0o0o

It takes us more than a few cups of coffee and a few hours before we are both healthy enough in spirit to talk to each other without crying.

"_I mean how does a guy like you, with those girly-hands get a girl like Katara?"_

Sokka's words to Aang flash through my mind like the lightning that Azula bends. The memory brings me back to the time when I was last here, in the tent adjacent to this one, I remember the food we were having, seal blubber and the emotionless façade I was trying so hard to maintain. Sokka was teasing the young airbender about his engagement to Katara. I recall feeling uncomfortable and the atmosphere of the room dropping to a difficult sorrow. The three of us, Aang, Katara and myself were exchanging awkward glances and looking at each other as if each of us had grown a new head.

Sokka hadn't a clue of course, he was too busy stuffing his face with the stew and both Katara and I excused ourselves. I don't remember anything after that, all I know is that I headed back to the Fire Nation immediately after their wedding and never returned, not until now. I clench my jaw as I stare at his lifeless form and then I am prompted by my inner voice and ask Katara a question that I should know better not to ask in a time like this.

"How did he go?"

She doesn't answer immediately, instead she looks and me, and then her features dim into a quiet world of her own. I regret my question immediately and reach a hand to my face as if I were trying to wipe away my embarrassment and then I turn to her, my features apologetic as I try to right my wrong.

"He was in her bed", her voice falls to a whisper and I look at her, I cannot hide the sorrow I feel. "It was a heart attack", she finishes and covers her face with her hands. I cannot hold back any longer and so in a heartbeat, she is in my arms and I have pressed my cheek to her forehead and am tracing soothing circles on her back. We sit for so long that she falls asleep, I look at her, my mind relieved that she is finally going to find her peace.

* * *

Katara

o0o0o

Two weeks and six days is the amount of time that has passed since Aang's death and Zuko hasn't left my side. He looks at me with those piercing golden eyes and I half expect to melt into a puddle. Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa, the new ruler of the Fire Nation. I watch him as he plays with my daughter, Azumi, whom I named for the Fire Nation. It never occurred to me that one day I would have a daughter for whom I would name for the nation who stole my mother but Zuko is a man who had made it all worth my while.

He steals a glance at me and I look at him with a small smile forming on my features. This man has given more for me than I would ever dare mention and for that I am grateful. There are times when I would wonder why I had let him go, why I let the man who loved me more than he loved himself go to Mai, I wonder often but have never gotten my answer. I think about Aang, about the look on the villagers' faces when they called me for help for the Avatar they had come to love.

He was still as he laid in her bed, he was so still. I remember the look of the poor woman. She was naked and that seems to fuel my anger even more. I loved Aang, yes but he had broken my heart and for that I don't think I can ever forgive him.

Zuko appears at my side once again and I cannot help but smile. By this time it is clear what I have to do. I have to be with him, if not for myself at least for my beloved daughter and for the man who has given his all to make me happy. I reach out and hold his hand. I don't believe in love now because the man who was supposed to love me and whom I was supposed to love had taken every bit of trust I had and spent it on a woman who never even cared for him and for that I am broken. And then I think of the way Zuko looked at me when he first came and told me how much he loved me, when he gave me the necklace he had fashioned out of a stone and the way his tears fell from his face.

I cringe slightly at the thought and squeeze his hand as if I were apologizing, he squeezes mine in return and his eyes seem to go downcast.

"I do", I whisper and his eyes meet mine, his face stern and untelling. For a moment I am scared and then he places my hand on his heart and his eyes bore into mine.

"Tell me this isn't a dream." It isn't a question and I nod.

"It's true", I whisper and the slightest of smirks form on my lips. This is a beginning of a new dawn.

We marry on the fifth day of July and it is a happy occasion and that night when he tells me he loves me all I can do is believe it and fall in love myself.

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**A/N: so that's the end of it, however, I will continue it if the response for this chapter is good. If you have any suggestions or constructive advice please feel free to let me know. Thanks :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Hey all, I actually posted up a third chapter to this piece as a means of continuation but wasn't getting any good feedback... actually I wasn't getting any feedback period. So I take it that ya'll would rather keep the story status quo; unupdated? If however, you are someone that does want to read the third chapter, please PM me, I would be more than happy to let you read it. Sorry for taking up your time like this.

Take care and thank you


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